Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 633 Provincial Grand Lodge of Cambridgeshire 634 Provincial Grand Lodge of North and East Yorkshire 6 33 Superintendents of English Buildings in the Middle Ages—1 6 3 $

The Hrstory of the Royal Masonrc Institution for Girls from its Origin , 1588 , to its Centenary , 1888—( Continued ) 636 Bro . G . L . Shackles , P . M ., P . P . S . G . D ., on Masonic Medals 63 } Board of Benevolence and Board of Masters 6 37

CORRESPONDENCEThe Grand Treasurership 6 39 Masonic Charities 6 39 Girls' School Centenary Hall 6 39 Reviews 6 39 Notes and Queries 640

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 640 Instruction 643 Royal Arch 6 44 Mark Masonry 6 44 Instruction 6 45 Knights Templar 6 4 J

Ancient and Accepted Rite 6 4 J Royal Ark Mariners 6 45 Presentation to Bro . the Rev . F . V . Bussell 64 $ Fifteenth Anniversary of the High Cross Lodge of Instruction , No . 754 6 4 $ Seventh Dinner of the Logic Club 6 43

Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 6 4 G Dinnner to Bro . John H . dimming , Treasurer 2191 646 Obituary 646 Masonic and General Tidings 6 47 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 648

Ar00101

„ ,, _ ., , THE General Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution for The Girls . . J School Girls at their meeting on 1 hursday afternoon were occupied Extension . ^^ consideration of Scheme B as revised by the Centenary Committee since its first presentation and acceptance , the result being that

the plans as altered have been adopted and subject , of course , to the approval of the Quarterly General Court , must henceforth be looked upon as representing the Scheme of re-arrangement and extension which will be carried into execution as soon as the requisite funds have been obtained . The scheme as thus amended shows a decided advantage over the original .

A comparison of the ground plans will show that the Centenary Hall has been turned round , so that it is now approached directly from the principal entrance of the building and occupies an almost central position in easy communication with the Dining Hall , School and Class Rooms . Then the new domestic offices have been brought nearer to tlie Alexandra wing , the

kitchen being immediately adjacent to the Dining Hall and on the same level , a forecourt between this building and the public road being obtained by this means . The revised scheme has also this further advantage , that the estimated cost is brought within the sum of £ 20 , 000 , so that it will be possible to carry out the better plan for the smaller outlay . There is ,

however , one change which cannot fail to attract attention , and which many will regret should have been made . It was originally proposed that the Centenary Hall should measure 105 feet by 42 feet , but in the new plan the dimensions are given as 100 feet by 40 feet . Now this diminution in length may not be a matter of serious moment , but the diminution in width is a

change which , we hope , it will be found possible to avoid , even if the class and other rooms on either side of the proposed Hall should have to suffer . A mere glance at the amended ground plan is enough to show that the Centenary Hall is hardly wide enough for its length , and that if this defect can be remedied in the manner we have hinted at , or by any other plan ,

the gain to the Hall in the way of improvement will be immense , while the loss to the class or other rooms will scarcely be noticeable . However , the new Scheme B is greatly preferable to the original , and we are glad the General Committee have accepted the report of the Centenary Committee , * * *

THERE is hardly a Province in England , whether great or small , Freemasonry in in which Freemasonry has made greater progress of late years than in Cambridgeshire . A few years since and we knew but little of its proceedings . The meetings of its Provincial Grand Lodge were left unrecorded , and , whatever it may have done indirectly in behalf of our

Institutions , it certainly was not often represented at their Festivals . As Bro . PASHLER , in replying the other day to the toast of " The Masonic Charities , " very tersely put it , when he lirst went to London on their account " Cambridgeshire was not known . " All this , however , has latterly been changed , and we are not surprised that Bro . PASHLER , in continuing

his remarks , should have added that now when Cambridgeshire brethren visit the Metropolis they find themselves well received and the Province looked up to with respect . Nor are we surprised that , the lethargy of former days having passed away , the brethren when they assemble , as they did at Cambridge on the nth inst ., in Provincial Grand Lodge , under the

presidency of their respected chief , Bro . the liarl of HARDWICKE , should be stirred to the display of a very considerable amount of enthusiasm . His lordship found a worthy successor to the late Bro . DEIGHTON , P . G . D ., D . P . G . M ., in Bro , NEAL YORK , and on the lamented death of the latter it was a wise and , as it has since proved , a beneficial , act on the part of the

PROV . G . MASTER to appoint Bro . A . H . MOYES in his stead . This succession of worthy brethren in the difficult post of Deputy has been attended with most satisfactory results , and we are not unduly flattering Cambridgeshire when we say that in its present position and prospects and the influence it wields it will compare favourably with the other

Provinces . It has a short muster roll of lodges and members , there being only six of the former and 345 of the latter , yet during the current year its representative Stewards , at the Festivals of the three Central Charities , took up amongst them lists amounting in the aggregate to £ 55 8 is , of which-the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution received by the

Ar00102

medium of Bro . MOVES , D . P . G . M ., £ 220 ios , ; the Girls School , per Bro ; C . GELDARD , ^ 200 ; and the Boys' School £ 137 10 s ., per Bro . S . H . SHARMAN . In raising these several amounts the Stewards were materially assisted by the Cambridgeshire Masonic Charity Association , the Provincial Grand Lodge , and all the private lodges but one , which , as it has only a very

limited membership ( 14 ) , is not strong enough as yet to be of any great service . We note that more than one of the speakers at the banquet which followed Provincial Grand Lodge expressed his opinion that the Provincial Charitable Association does not receive as much support as is possible , only about one-fourth of the lodge members being subscribers to its funds ,

But we must not lose sight of the fact that the Association is ol recent establishment , and as the knowledge of the good it does is more wide-spread about among the brethren it will obtain a greater measure of support . It has certainly done much good thus far , and the Province must be proud that , greatly through its instrumentality , the Stewards who have represented

Cambridgeshire at our Charitable Festivals during the five years from 1883 to iSgj , have been enabled to raise for them upwards of ^ 1545 . We congratulate Bro . Lord HARDWICKE , his Deputy , Bro . MOYES , and the other able officers by whom he is surrounded , as well as the lodges and brethren

generally , on the satisfactory position now occupied by Freemasonry in Cambridgeshire ; and we sincerely trust that , as year succeeds year , and the brethren meet to hear accounts of what has passed , there will be the samG display of enthusiasm , and the same reason for its display , as at the meeting on the nth inst .

* * * IN the Liberal Freemason of Boston , Massachusetts , for the , F }} ' [' - ° month of October are some opinions extracted from an article , Installations . c ' speech , or report of Bro . J OSIAH H . DRUMMOND , Past G , Master of Maine , in which that worthy hrother is pleased to consider that

" Public Installations " are " of essential service to the Craft . " And then he proceeds to offer his reasons for this opinion . " Each Mason , " he says , " in the presence of those who have a stake in Freemasonry scarcely less than himself , is reminded of his duties as a Mason , not only to his brother , but to himself , his family , his country , and his GOD , and renews his solemn

obligations to perform those duties . Can any one doubt that the presence of such witnesses makes the ceremonies more impressive ? " Now , all this looks very beautiful when printed in the pages of a neat and well-appointed magazine ; it reads well for this style of composition , and no doubt it finds favour among that ciass of people whose intellectual capacity is

eminently feeble . But , with all due deference to such an authority as Bro . DRUMMOND , we take upon ourselves to say that this milk - and - watery kind of sentiment has nothing in common with Freemasonry , which , though it has secrets that are unobjectionable either to religion or morality , has sturdy manliness and good sense enough to

keep those secrets to itself , and does not practise its rites and ceremoniessave those which may properly be practised—in the presence of non-Masonic witnesses . As for the belief which appears to prevail in Bro . DRUMMOND ' mind that "public installations" may have been " common in England before 1 S 00 , " and the illustrations on which he seems to found

his belief , we counsel him to at once disabuse his mind of such a notion . As far as our reading goes , there was never anything either in "Ancient " or " Modern " Freemasonry in this country like these " public installations , " of whose beneficent influence , both on Masons and non-Masons , he holds so exalted an opinion . The cases he mentions do not suggest the idea that

the purely Masonic portion of the ceremonies referred to were performed in public , though the brethren may have attended Divine service as a part of the day ' s programme , and as is commonly enough done now , when our

Provincial Grand Lodges hold their annual meetings . Perhaps Bro . DRUMMOND will look up his history a little , and tell us more about those English rehearsals of Masonic ceremonies in public . We are ready to be enlightened on a subject which is new both to us and to our readers .

Now that Bro . J LANE has in all probability , traced the r ^ umber ^ 'Trf" ' ' & Number" 79 " , which has so puzzled Masonic Students , we shall not value the evidence of the Dublin " Pocket Companion" of 1735 , so much as we did . True it is , that the entry in that List is a curious one , and is sitll unexplained , but if the original No . 79

was a London Lodge , as Bro , LANE ' S discovery appears to us to indicate , then " good-bye " to the Philadelphia Lodge , for it could not have been on the English Register at any lime . Brethren who possess the great work by Bro . LANE— " Masonic Records , 1717—1886 '' , may we think now insert " Three Kings , Crispian St ., Spittle Fields " in the place of the

suggested Lodge at Philadelphia ; the year 1731 remaining as before . The evidence submitted by Bro . LANE , based on an extract from Bro . SADLER ' most interesting work , is entirely confirmatory of the views so ably advocated by our Masonic Statistician in these pages on March 19 th 1 S 87 , and proves that the Lodge at the " Castle in Highgate" did not appear en the List as the second No . 79 until late in 1732 ,